This thread is making me curious about trying FF13 again. I picked up the whole trilogy in 2023 and tried really hard to hang with 13, but I just couldn’t stick with it. If I truly cannot chill with that game maybe I’ll look up a plot summary and try out the sequels, see if I like what’s going on in there more.
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I have never understood Galaxy 2—it’s Galaxy but without the weird dramatic aesthetic package, which was most of the appeal imo. Sort of formative games for me, going back to them now I don’t think either is particularly compelling, but 2 looks and sounds unappealing to my taste. I can understand others not sharing this opinion and enjoying the game but I never understood for example Tim’s “Galaxy 1 sucks, Galaxy 2 rules” stance
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I couldn’t get enough of those Castlevania games, they are all good.
I would say Aria of Sorrow contests Symphony of the Night even.
I was so happy when that Advance Collection and Dominus Collection came out.
Oh, here’s a game i hope has a big turnaround. Resident Evil 3 Remake. I have heard hardly ANYONE speak positively on this game and i loved it through and through. It’s not perfect by any means, but the pacing was incredible and the game play was so much fun. So i really hope people give it a solid chance.
As previously said about it being sandwiched by 2 of the fan favorites i believe that post was about the Original Ps1 version but the same concept applies still.
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Speaking of Resident Evil, it’s more of a “different social bubble” thing than a change of trend but I was floored over the past decade discovering that most RE fans (it least in English-speaking communities) have a poor opinion of Code Veronica compared to RE3, and also just how much more mainstream RE3 was than CV (although this should have been obvious from the install bases alone).
In our Dreamcast bubble, CV was the true next Resident Evil after RE2, and perceived by my friends and I as both a visually impressive game and a great return to the RE1 formula after the bombastic but a bit too action-oriented RE2. Meanwhile RE3 was basically a data disk of RE2 meant for Capcom to pay the checks.
I quickly corrected the course on the comparative relevance of each game in the early 2000s, when I started following software sales more closely and found out RE3 sold something like three or four times as much as CV did, but I was blindsided by the perception of the games’ respective qualities until very recently (pretty much until the recent remakes became a thing).
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This seems to be an opinion I see a lot in recent years, that Aria of Sorrow is equivalent to or better than Symphony. I can get behind this, seeing as Symphony is probably only like my 5th or 6th favorite Castlevania. Symphony is a great game but I’ve always felt like the second half was needless padding. Never have figured out why that back half doesn’t bother anyone else.
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It might rank up there with interest release timings. I’m not sure what the general online sentiment of DS was though, I believe maybe Dunkey changed his mind on it.
Oh yeah that period is a massive blur at this point. Although I do recall beating Bloodstained Ritual of the Night while in lockdown lol
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My unpopular opinion is that OoE is the worst of the 3 DS IGAvanias, if only because it’s the most barebones/shortest of the three (probably because it was barely funded and/or rushed); the town/quest system is super empty & underwhelming, the battle system isn’t as nuanced as the other DS games (which is maybe a plus for some people but I liked the Soul and Partner systems more), and Albus mode literally adds nothing to the story (there’s no spoken dialogue in it iirc)
When OoE came out, people seemed to just repeat “oh it’s finally a ‘hard’ Castlevania, thank god”, but even though Portrait of Ruin was way easier, still had more fun exploring the game world and the bonus modes. Of course the art in OoE was the least generic of the 3, but that’s not enough to overwrite everything else.
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The inverted castle is okay just because it was so interesting and novel for the time. I still like it, but its not as exciting now i feel.
I adore Symphony but i think its hust a tad too long for the 200%
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I feel as though CV was very well regarded at first but the 3d backgrounds didnt age as well as the prerendered ones in the other games.
I hope to see a Code Veronica remake sometime for that reason
GOD HAND
Doesn’t seem that surprising to me to not see it come up in this thread just given the topic. I do feel that it’s a game where one’s first meaningful impression (so long as we control for those impressions being meaningful ones and not just snap judgements) is probably going to be accurate to how one will always feel about it. It’s a game where its honesty and intensity and idiosyncratic nature makes it unwilling it just incapable of changing anyone’s mind about it after the fact, such is its rigidity and fairly consistent nature throughout.
I don’t know what one could get from the tenth hour of GOD HAND that they wouldn’t get from the first two, you know that I mean?
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Oh, I misunderstood, this thread is about popular consensus, not just personal oscillation in opinion…
I was not really myself all that aware of how GOD HAND was received contemporaneously, but my understanding is that it was kind of an instant cult classic. The infamous 3/10 from IGN was perhaps more of an exception which proves the rule, as it was ridiculed specifically because the game’s majesty was widely (well, not that widely, but still) perceived and understood.
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I may or may not have this written out extensively tucked away in a Google doc somewhere, but it has only ever been my understanding that the consensus was that GOD HAND is a game that, due to its unique nature and excellent design, has maintained a small but dedicated following from the very beginning, I don’t think the public consensus was ever uninformed of that, if that’s the kind of criteria we’re talking about. As in, I don’t think there has ever been a meaningfully large contingent of the Gamer population who inaccurately dismiss it as bad which has become proportionally smaller over time as consensus overall is more proportionally favourable towards it, and I’m not even sure if the contingent of Gamers who exalt it as deserved is becoming proportionally much bigger either. Maybe somewhat–the Souls games would certainly have something to do with more Gamers overall becoming more comfortable overall with the class of sheer idiosynchronicity that GOD HAND represents–but that’s more like people doing a 45 than a 180. You’d have to control that growth against like, idk, population growth lol.
Actually I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single person give anything other than either glowing fanatic praise, or respectful admission of its brilliance despite it not being one’s cup of tea. Just, you know. It is a game that cannot but make its nature obvious after even a passing interaction with it.
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quake 2 did a full 360 in the past 25 years, at least among heads. went from “rendering quake obsolete,” best FPS of all time, popular enough to make one of its control presets the assumed default for all pc games forever, etc, then gradually became the black sheep of the three (blander theming than quake 1+worse presentation than half-life for singleplayer, Not Literally Quake 3 for multiplayer) such that series newcomers would assume it was never popular, now beloved again since you can play it on the switch. personally, my opinion (singleplayer is boring aside from the animations, multiplayer is SSS+ tier electronic-sports-as-art) has not changed, bc i am cool and smart
i’ve noticed some people on backloggd starting to reevaluate “the quiet man” but that one seems like it’ll be weirdos only. maybe if the right person makes a video essay, lol…
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oh wait, RUNESCAPE!! that’s a huge one. people sincerely love that game now, even without having grown up with it. it’s leeching players from world of warcraft! who woulda thought
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That’s exactly why I love it. All the other Igavanias are way too bloated for me. For example, when I played Bloodstained I intentionally got what I knew was going to be a bad ending, because I was ready for it to be over. Ecclesia only overstayed it’s welcome by a couple hours or so for me, whereas all the others wear so thin by the end I feel like I’m doing things out of obligation, like it’s taxes.
As far as the others being more nuanced, I never got that feeling. I definitely feel that way in regards to Rondo being more nuanced than the other traditional Castlevanias - but none of the Igavanias have ever left me feeling like they’re anything close to mechanically fine-tuned. If I remember right the other DS games had more stuff, can’t say I equate that to nuance. At this point my memory is so hazy I can’t really distinguish Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow and my only real recollection of Portrait is that I just facerolled through the entire game with little resistance, so if it had more in the way of nuance it didn’t showcase it to me as I plowed through.
My initial play through I thought the inverted castle was neat at first and then by about 25% through it I was ready for the game to be over.
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This is probably mainly because Jonathan Blow went completely off the hook weird, but it’s striking how far Braid has dropped from its initial prestigious standing. It used to be one of the poster childs for the indie scene, a juicy candidate in the contemporary “games as art” debate and overall a modern classic. Now no one seems to care to the point of ridiculing the game, with its recent remaster supposedly having abysmal sales.
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The public opionion took sides with Soulja Boy
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I’ve always thought it was a dull and ugly looking game.
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I think part of the issue is that Braid only really works the first time you play it. I tried to go back a few years ago, and even though I didn’t remember specific puzzles, I remembered the general approach you take which took away from the sense of discovery that is core to that experience. Other indie games have expanded upon the platforming ideas or how it incorporates time rewind as a mechanic, so it definitely does not feel as revolutionary to actually play through.
The story is abstract and lends itself to different interpretations, but if you go in knowing it’s kind of inconclusive, it loses its luster. Ideally it would offer something different to you at a different stage of your life, but it doesn’t give much to really grasp onto. Both Braid and the Witness feel like Blow tried to engineer art and philosophy into the game rather than speaking to any personal experience or insight.
Blow being a bit of a wanker is also highlighted in the Anniversary Edition too, thanks to the primary selling point of the game being hours of self indulgent audio commentary that I can’t imagine anyone caring that much about.
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If you think about puzzle games that have stood the test of time, what people remember and cherish is rarely the puzzles. It’s the charm of the story and characters, or the feeling that the environments and art evoke. Braid and The Witness look pretty, but they evoke nothing. The stories feel like placeholders, they are there because they have to be there, and they strike an artistic/intellectual tone, but they don’t congeal into anything meaningful or touching. All I can remember of them without looking back is “that was sort of clever, he really did think of every possible iteration of this one puzzle mechanic”, hardly something to hold dear.
Apart from that, in 2010 or so Braid was a prime example that small games could be made well by just a few people, and a gateway for getting into the indie space as a whole. So it has that symbolic relevance. But that’s about it. And yeah, just as with many others, Blow’s twitter meltdowns and overall insufferable personality have tainted it for me.
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